Civilian experts parachute in for 5 years; NCIS sees caseload double

With the Pentagon under intense public scrutiny over sexual assault, the Department of the Navy is making changes to a military justice system now swimming in cases.

The Navy and Marine Corps have hired prominent civilian lawyers to help prosecute and defend these cases, while the Navy’s San Diego investigative field office has seen sexual assault accusations double since last summer.

Officials say they are bringing in the legal big guns because sex crimes are notoriously hard to litigate. And, many new cases are about older assaults, as troops only now feel comfortable coming forward in a military culture that hasn’t historically been gentle on victims.

Puckett says he wants to instill confidence in military defense attorneys, who are often staring down higher-ranking prosecutors and judges.

Teresa Scalzo, the Navy’s prosecution expert, said her value is advising investigators and attorneys how to bring the strongest case in the murky world of active-duty sexual assault — which most often involves a group of friends on an alcohol-fueled party night and the accused is not a stranger but can be billed as a “hero in uniform.”

The Marine Corps will hire four prosecution experts, spread geographically, and one for the defense.

The West Coast prosecution consultant is Gretchen Means, a former San Diego deputy district attorney specializing in sex crimes. Hired in January, she works out of Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

Change also has come to the Navy’s San Diego criminal investigative field office and prosecution unit.

A little-discussed revision to the military’s definition of sexual assault last summer has meant a flood of additional cases for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS, the Navy’s civilian crime-solving arm.

In June 2012, Congress revised the rape and sexual assault charge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice to include lesser kinds of sexual assault, such as groping. Previously, those would usually fall under a general catch-all charge.

The upshot: These less-aggravated sexual assaults are elevated to the felony level, which means NCIS must investigate each one.

NCIS officials in San Diego say there’s another reason for the doubling of their sexual assault caseload in a year. Older incidents account for more than half the buildup.

Apparently the Navy’s education effort aimed at sexual assault prevention has led sailors to come forward with stories of assaults that happened months or even years before.

“Some say they didn’t understand until they had the training” that they should come forward, said Susan Simon, NCIS special agent in charge of the San Diego field office. And, she and others said, sailors report feeling that the Navy is now more open to hearing their stories.